THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

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OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


GIFT  OF 


DR.  AND  MRS.  ELMER  BELT 


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FllEF|SIOQRSgHIE§, 


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CINCINNATI, 


<^^-<5^Py  e  L  D  S  H  i  D)  BY 


DT(SH©0©I1C9^ 


COR.  MAIN  &.  EIGHTH  STS. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1863, 
BY  POE  &  HITCHCOCK, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern 

District  of  Ohio. 


CINCINNATI: 

METHODIST    BOOK    CONCERN. 

It.  P.  THOMPSON,  rUlNTER. 


A^    p- 


l\V 


vin. 
AN  ANGEL  OF  MERCY-FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE. 


The  most  barren  desert  is  not  without  its  oasis,  where 
the  gi-een  grass  springs  up  and  the  flowers  blossom.  Nor  is 
there  any  region  so  girt  with  ice  and  sand,  that  its  desola- 
tion is  unrelieved  by  the  lichen  clinging  to  its  native  rock 
and  greeting  the  eye  with  its  verdure.  So  the  darkest 
scenes  of  human  history  are  often  relieved  by  the  revelation 
of  some  angel  of  mercy  and  love,  commissioned  for  deeds 
that  warm  the  heart  with  holy  admiration.  This  gives  us 
hope  of  our  humanity,  even  in  its  darkest  and  most  forbid- 
ding forms.  The  scenes  of  the  Crimean  war  in  1854  and 
1855  are  thus  relieved  by  the  heroic  and  philanthropic  devo- 
tion of  one  whose  name  will  Uve,  enrolled  upon  the  bright 
page  of  the  world's  benefactors,  long  after  the  illustrious 
generals  who  led  in  the  conflict  have  been  forgotten.  The 
death-defying  charge  upon  the  field  of  Balaklava  has  not 
more  certainly  become  "stoi'ied"  in  the  world's  history  than 
have  the  philanthropy  and  heroism  of  Florence  Nightingale. 
Miss  Nightingale  was  born,  according  to  the  best  author- 
ity we  have  seen,  at  Florence  in  the  year  1823.  She  re- 
ceived her  Christian  name  from  that  renowned  and  beautiful 
Italian  city.  She  was  the  youngest  daughter  of  Mr.  William 
Shore  Nightingale,  of  Embley  Park,  Hampshire,  and  the  Lea 
Hurst,  Derbyshire,  in  England.  She  was  a  young  lady  of 
singular  endowments,  both  natural  and  acquired.  She  early 
acquired-  a  knowledge  of  the  ancient  languages,  and  of  the 
higher    branches    of   mathematics;    whde    her   attainments    in 

109 


110  CELEBRATED  WOMEN. 

general  art,  science,  and  literature  were  of  no  common  order. 
Her  command  of  modern  languages  was  extensive,  and  she 
spoke  French,  German,  and  ItaUan  fluently  as  her  native 
Enalish.  She  has  visited  and  studied  the  various  nations  of 
Europe,  and  has  ascended  the  Nile  to  its  farthest  cataract. 
WhUe  in  Egypt  she  tended  the  sick  Arabs  with  whom  she 
came  in  contact;  and  it  was  frequently  in  her  power,  by  ju- 
dicious advice,  to  render  them  important  services.  Graceful, 
feminine,  rich,  and  popular,  her  influence  over  those  with 
whom  she  came  in  contact  was  powerful  as  it  was  gentle 
and  persuasive.  Her  friends  and  acquaintances  embraced  a 
large  circle,  and  included  persons  of  all  classes  and  persua- 
sions; but  her  happiest  place  has  ever  been  her  home,  where, 
in  the  center  of  numerous  and  distinguished  relatives,  and  in 
the  simjilest  obedience  to  her  admiring  parents,  she  dwelt. 
Her  personal  appearance  is  described  by  Mr.  Trenery  in  his 
Crescent  City,  as  he  saw  her  engaged  in  her  mission  of 
mercy.  He  says  she  is  one  of  those  whom  God  forms  for 
great  ends.  You  can  not  hear  her  say  a  few  sentences,  nor 
even  look  at  her,  without  feeling  that  she  is  an  extraordinary 
being.  Simple,  intellectual,  sweet,  full  of  love  and  benevo- 
lence, innocent — she  is  a  fascinating  and  perfect  woman.  She 
is  tall  and  pale.  Her  face  is  exceedingly  lovely;  but  better 
than  all  is  the  soul's  glory  that  shines  through  every  feature 
so  exultingly.  Nothing  can  be  sweeter  than  her  snule.  It 
is  like  a  sunny  day  in  Summer;  and  more  of  hoUness  than 
is  expressed  in  her  countenance  one  does  not  often  meet  on 
a  human  face  as  one  passes  along  the  dusty  highways  of  life. 
Through  all  her  movements  breathes  that  high  intellectual 
calm  which  is  God's  own  patent  of  nobility,  and  is  the  true 
seal  of  the  most  glorious  aristocracy — that  of  mind,  of  soul! 
From  infancy  she  had  a  yearning  afi'ection  for  her  kind — 
a  sympathy  with  the  weak,  the  oppressed,  the  destitute,  the 
sufl'ering,  and  the  desolate.  The  schools  and  the  poor  around 
Lea  Hurst  and  Embley  first  saw  and  felt  her  as  a  visitor, 
teacher,  consoler,  and  expounder.     Then  she  frequented  and 


AC 

FLOEENCE  NIGHTINGALE.        ^  111 

studied  the  schools,  hospitals,  and  reformatory  institutions  of 
London,    Edinburgh,   and   the    continent.     It   ajjpears    by   her 
evidence  lately  given  before   the   English  Army  Medical  Re- 
form Comnussion,  that  she  has  devoted  her  attention  to   the 
organization    of    hospitals    for    thirteen    years,    during    which 
time  she  has  visited  all  the  hospitals  of  London,  Edinburgh, 
and  Dublin;  many  country  infirmaries,  and  some  of  the  mili- 
tary   and    naval    hospitals    in    England;    all    the    hospitals    in 
Paris,  where    she    studied    with   the   Sisters   of  Charity;    the 
institution  of  the  Protestant  Deaconesses  at  Kaiserwerth,  on 
the  Rhine,  where  she  was  twice  in  ti'aining  as  a  nurse;   the 
hospitals    at   Berlin,   and    many   others    in    Germany,    and    at 
Lyons,  Brussels,  Rome,  Constantinople,  and  Alexandria;   and 
the  war  hospitals  of  the  French  and  Sardinians.      Soon  after 
her  return  home  from  the  continent,  the  hospital  established 
in  London  for  sick  governesses  was  about  to  fail  for  want  of 
proper    management,   and    Miss   Nightingale    consented   to    be 
placed    at    its    head.      Derbyshire    and    Hamjjshire    were    ex- 
changed   for    the    narrow,    dreary    establishment    in    Harley- 
street,  to  which  she  devoted  the  whole  of  her  time  and  her 
fortune.     While   her    friends    missed    her    at    assemblies,    lec- 
tures,   concerts,    exhibitions,    and    all    the    entertainments    for 
taste  and  intellect  with  which  London  in  its  season  abounds, 
she  whose  powers  could  have  best  appreciated  them  was  sit- 
ting beside  the  bed  and  soothing  the  last  complaints  of  some 
poor,  dying,  homeless,  hapless   governess.      Miss   Nightingale 
found    pleasure    in    tending    these    poor,    destitute    women   in 
their   infirmities,   their    sorrows,   their  deaths,   or   their   recov- 
eries.    She  was  seldom  seen  out  of  the  walls  of  the  institu- 
tion;  and   the   few   friends   whom   she   ndmitted   found    her  in 
the  midst  of  nurses,  letters,  prescriptions,  accounts,  and  inter- 
ruptions.    Her  health  sunk  under  the  heavy  pressure.     Thus 
it  appears  she  had  received  a  special  training  for  the  great 
work  to  which  she  was  providentially  called. 

When   the   accounts  of  the    sufferings   of  the    soldiery  in 
the  Crimea,  of  the  additional  rigors  that  they  were  endui'ing 


112  CELEBRATED   WOMEN. 

from  want  of  oircctual  hospital  treatment,  and  from  defective 
management  in  supplying  stores  and  necessary  relief,  she 
kindled  at  once  with  an  enthusiastic  desu-e  to  remedy  the 
evil.  The  extent  of  that  evil  may  be  gathered  from  the  ftict 
that  there  was,  in  the  first  seven  months  of  the  Crimean 
campaign,  a  mortality  among  the  troops  of  sixty  per  cent. 
per  annum  from  disease  alone — a  rate  which  exceeds  that  of 
tlie  great  plague  of  London,  and  a  higher  ratio  than  the 
mortality  in  cholera  to  the  attacks.  One  of  the  chief  points 
in  which  the  deficiency  of  proper  comfort  and  relief  for  the 
sick  and  wounded  sufferers  was  felt,  was  the  want  of  good 
nursing.  To  send  out  a  band  of  skillful  nurses  was  soon 
found  to  be  one  of  the  most  essential  of  all  supplies.  But 
unless  these  were  really  skilled,  more  harm  than  good  would 
certainly  accrue;  zeal,  without  experience,  could  effect  httle; 
and  a  bevy  of  incompetent  or  ill-organized  nurses  would  prove 
an  incumbrance,  instead  of  an  assistance.  Now  it  was  that 
a  field  was  opened  for  the  wider  exercise  of  Miss  Nightin- 
gale's genius  and  philanthropy;  and  now  it  was  that  her  ad- 
mirable abilities  were  secured  for  this  great  object  in  view. 
At  the  request  of  the  Right  Hon.  Sydney  Herbert,  Miss 
Nightmgale  at  once  accepted  the  proposal  that  she  should 
undertake  to  form  and  control  the  entire  nursing  establish- 
ment for  the  British  sick  and  wounded  soldiers  and  sailors 
in  the  Crimea.  Indeed,  it  is  asserted,  that  by  a  strange  co- 
incidence— one  of  those  coincidences  arising  out  of  urgent 
necessity  felt  and  met  at  once — she  had,  herself,  written  to 
Mr.  Herbert  on  the  very  same  day,  volunteering  her  services 
where  they  were  so  much  needed.  The  task  was  one  which 
involved  sacrifices  and  responsibilities  of  formidable  magni- 
tude— the  risk  of  her  own  life,  the  pang  of  separation  from 
her  family  and  friends,  the  certainty  of  encountering  hard- 
ships, dangers,  toils,  and  the  constantly-recurring  scene  of 
human  suffering  amidst  all  the  worst  horrors  of  war,  together 
with  an  amount  of  obstacle  and  difficulty  in  the  carrying  out 
of  her  noble  work  wholly  incalculable.     Few  but  would  have 


FLOEENCE  NIGHTINGALE.  113 

recoiled  from  such  a  prospect;  Miss  Nightingale,  however, 
met  it  with  her  own  spirit  of  welcome  for  occasion  to  devote 
herself  in  the  cause  of  humanity.  Heroic  was  the  firmness 
with  which  she  voluntarily  encountered  her  task;  glorious  was 
the  constancy  with  which  she  persevered  in  and  achieved  it. 
The  same  force  of  nature  which  had  enabled  her  quietly  and 
resolutely  to  accumulate  powers  of  consolation  and  relief  for 
the  behoof  of  her  fellow-ci'eatures,  enabled  her  to  persist  stead- 
ily to  the  end,  and  carry  out  her  high  purpose  with  a  suc- 
cess, holy  as  it  was  triumphant. 

The  history  of  her  enterprise  has  been  well  written  by 
the  author  of  "World-Noted  Women,"  and  we  shall  present  it 
in  very  nearly  her  own  words,  only  correcting  in  points  upon 
which  additional  light  has  been  given,  and  relieving  the  na  - 
rative  of  the  tedium  of  too  minute  detail.  On  Tuesday,  the 
24th  of  October,  1854,  Miss  Nightingale,  accompanied  by 
Rev.  Mr.  Bracebridge  and  his  wife,  and  a  staff  of  thirty-seven 
nurses,  set  out  from  England.  On  her  way  through  France, 
she  and  her  companions  were  received  with  the  most  re- 
spectful attention;  hotel-keepers  refusing  payment  for  their 
accommodation,  servants  dechning  the  customary  fees,  and  all 
classes  vying  to  show  sympathy  with  their  mission.  On  pass- 
ing through  the  French  metropolis,  one  of  the  Paris  journals 
made  a  characteristic  remark  upon  Miss  Nightingale's  appear- 
ance, which,  coming  from  the  source  whence  it  did,  was  the 
extreme  of  intended  compliment  and  interest.  The  jiaper 
observed  that  "her  toilet  was  charming,  and  she  was  almost 
as  graceful  as  a  Parisienne."  On  the  Friday  following,  Miss 
Nightingale  and  her  companions  embarked  at  Marseilles  in 
the  Vectis  steamer,  and,  after  a  stormy  passage,  they  reached 
Scutari  on  the  5th  of  November,  just  before  the  wounded  in 
the  action  of  Balaklava  began  to  arrive.  Five  rooms  which 
had  been  set  apart  for  wounded  general  officers  were,  happily, 
unoccupied,  and  these  were  assigned  to  Miss  Nightingale  and 
her  nurses,  who,  in  appearance  and  demeanor,  formed  a  strong 
contrast  to  the  usual  aspect  of  hospital  attendants.      Under 


114  CELEBRATED    WOMEN. 

such  management  the  chaotic  confusion  of  the  vast  hospital 
was  quickly  reduced  to  order:  the  wounded,  before  left  for 
many  hours  unattended,  now  scarcely  uttered  a  groan  without 
some  gentle  nurse  being  at  hand  to  adjust  their  pillow,  and 
alleviate  their  discomfort;  tears  stood  m  the  eyes  of  many  a 
veteran  while  he  confessed  his  conviction,  that  indeed  the 
British  soldier  was  cared  for  by  his  country,  since  ladies 
would  leave  the  comforts  and  luxuries  of  home  to  come  and 
tend  him  in  his  misery.  Far  from  realizing  the  fears  which 
had  been  entertained  by  officials,  that  this  new  addition  to 
the  staff  of  a  military  hospital  would  not  work  well.  Miss 
Nightingale  and  her  nurses  were  "never  found  in  the  way 
except  to  do  good." 

In  the  mean  time  the  reports  of  the  condition  of  the  des- 
titute suffering  and  dying  soldiery  had  created  universal  sym- 
pathy in  England.  It  produced  a  sort  of  spontaneous  action. 
A  subscription  was  set  afoot,  and  in  less  than  a  fortnight 
the  sum  of  £15,000  was  sent  into  the  Times  office  for  the 
above  purpose.  The  proprietors  of  that  journal  sent  out  a 
special  commissioner,  Mr.  Macdonald,  to  administer  this  fund, 
from  which  thousands  of  shirts,  sheets,  stockings,  flannels, 
quilted  coats,  and  hospital  utensils,  besides  large  quantities 
of  arrow-root,  sago,  sugar,  tea,  soap,  wine,  and  brandy  were 
supplied.  Whenever,  as  after  the  battle  of  Inkermann,  crowds 
of  wounded  arrived,  there  was  feminine  ministry  at  hand  to 
tend  them;  and  when  medical  stores  failed  or  demand  arose 
for  articles  not  forthcoming,  the  Times  commissioner  supplied 
Miss  Nightingale  at  once  with  what  was  needed,  if  it  could 
be  procured  by  money  in  the  bazars  or  stores  of  Constanti- 
nople. This  promptitude  of  Mr.  Macdonald  in  seconding  Miss 
Nightingale's  exertions,  deserves  all  praise;  for  it  mainly  en- 
abled her  to  carry  out  the  immediate  requisites  of  her  plan. 
His  own  excellent  letters,  written  at  the  time,  give  a  most 
vivid  picture  of  the  difficulties  she  had  to  contend  with,  in 
the  shape  of  ill-contrived  arrangements  alone,  besides  other 
obstructions  to  her  procedure.     A  rule  of  the  service  which 


FLOEENCE  NIGHTDSTGALE.  115 

required  that  articles — needed  for  present  use — should  be  ob- 
tained from  home  through  the  commissariat,  and  a  regulation 
which  appointed  that  a  "board"  must  sit  upon  stores  already- 
landed,  before  they  could  be  given  out,  will  serve  as  instances 
to  show  what  were  the  obstacles  against  which  Miss  Nightin- 
gale had  to  exert  her  energies  of  discretion  and  presence  of 
mind.  To  comprehend  the  evils  occasioned  by  such  impedi- 
ments, an  exti'act  from  one  of  the  nurse's  letters  will  offer  an 
example :  "  I  know  not  what  sight  is  moi"e  heart-rending,  to 
witness  fine-looking,  strong  young  men  worn  down  by  ex- 
haustion, and  sinking  under  it,  or  others  coming  in  fearfully 
wounded.  The  whole  of  yesterday  was  spent  in  sewing 
men's  mattresses  together,  then  in  washing  and  assisting  the 
surgeons  to  dress  their  wounds,  and  seeing  the  poor  fellows 
made  as  comfortable  as  their  circumstances  would  admit  of 
after  five  days'  confinement  on  board  ship,  during  which  time 
their  wounds  were  not  dressed.  Out  of  the  four  wards  com- 
mitted to  my  charge,  eleven  men  died  in  the  night  simply 
from  exhaustion,  which,  humanly  speaking,  might  have  been 
stopped,  could  I  have  laid  my  hands  on  such  nourishment  as 
I  know  they  ought  to  have  had." 

In  the  article  of  hospital  clothing,  the  same  deidorable 
effects  resulted  from  the  delay  and  confusion  which  existed 
before  Miss  Nightingale's  remedial  measures  came  into  opera- 
tion. The  original  supply  of  these  articles,  inadequate  as  it 
was,  had  long  been  reduced  so  low,  that  but  for  the  pur- 
chases made  with  the  money  of  the  fund,  and  distributed 
through  Miss  Nightingale,  a  large  proportion  of  the  invalids 
must  have  been  without  a  change  of  under-clothing,  con- 
demned to  wear  the  tattered,  filthy  rags  in  which  they  were 
brought  down  from  the  Crimea.  A  washing  contract  existed, 
indeed,  but  it  was  entirely  inoperative;  and  the  consequence 
was,  that  not  only  the  beds,  but  the  shirts  of  the  men  were 
in  a  state  foul  and  unwholesome  beyond  desci'iption.  To 
remedy  this,  a  house  well  supplied  with  water  was  engaged 

at    the    charge   of  the    fund,  close    to    the    Barrack    Hospital, 

16 


IIG  CELEBRATED  WOMEN. 

where  the  clothing  siii)plied  by  jMiss  Nightingale  might  be 
cleansed  and  dried.  Her  supervision  had  an  eye  for  all 
needs ;  her  experience  had  a  knowledge  for  all  that  should 
be  done;  and  her  energy  enabled  her  to  have  canied  into 
effect  that  which  she  saw  and  knew  ought  to  be  effected. 

In  ten  days  after  theu-  arrival  JMiss  Nightingale  and  her 
assistants  fitted  up  a  sort  of  impromptu  kitchen,  and  from 
this  hastily-constructed  resource,  eight  hundred  men  were 
daily  supplied  with  their  respective  needed  quantities  of  well- 
cooked  food,  besides  beef-tea  in  abundance.  They  who  are 
acquainted  with  the  plan  of  cookery  pm-sued  in  barracks, 
where  all  a  company's  meat  and  vegetables  are  boiled  in  one 
cojjper,  the  portions  belonging  to  messes  being  kept  in  sepa- 
rate nets,  will  know  how  that  food  is  likely  to  suit  the  sickly 
appetite  of  a  fevered  patient,  and  how  invaluable  a  system 
which  provided  the  needful  light  diet,  prepared  with  due 
quickness,  as  well  as  nicety,  would  be  in  hospital  treatment. 
This  was  effected  by  Miss  Nightingale's  kitchen,  even  in  its 
early  operation,  and  it  subsequently  attained  a  degree  of  ex- 
cellence productive  of  extensive  benefit,  scarcely  to  be  esti- 
mated by  those  unacquainted  with  the  importance  of  such 
details.  Her  extraordinary  intelligence  and  capacity  for  or- 
ganization showed  itself  in  subordinate,  as  well  as  principal 
points  of  arrangement.  In  what  might  be  called  "housekeep- 
ing duties,"  she  showed  womanly  accomphshment,  no  less  than 
nice  judgment.  When  the  nurses  were  not  needed  at  the 
bedsides  of  the  sick  and  wounded,  they  were  employed  by 
her  in  making  uj)  needful  articles  of  bedding  and  surgical 
requisites — such  as  stump-pillows  for  amputation  cases.  Not 
only  was  the  laundry  in  excellent  working  order,  but  l^y 
the  strong  representation  of  Miss  Nightingale,  the  dysenteiy 
wards  were  cleansed  out,  and  general  purification  was  made 
a  diligently-regarded  particular.  During  the  first  two  months 
after  her  arrival,  when  there  was  no  one  else  to  act.  Miss 
Nightingale  was  the  real  purveyor  of  those  vast  establish- 
ments— the  hospitals  at  Scutari — providing  what  could  not  be 


FLORENCE   NIGHTINGALE.  117 

obtained  through  the  regular  channels  of  the  service,  and  es- 
jjecially  from  her  kitchen,  supplying  comforts  without  which 
many  a  poor  feUow  would  have  died.  Her  name  and  benev- 
olent services  were  the  theme  of  frequent  and  grateful  praise 
among  the  men  in  the  trenches;  and  the  remark  was  uttered 
that  she  made  the  barrack  hospital  so  comfortable  that  the 
convalescents  began  to  show  a  decided  reluctance  to  leave  it. 
Stores  of  shirts,  flannel,  socks,  and  a  thousand  other  articles, 
which  she  and  her  nurses  distiibuted ;  brandy,  wine,  and  a 
variety  of  things,  requii'ed  at  a  moment's  notice,  and  which 
could  be  procured  from  Miss  Nightingale's  quarters  without 
delay  or  troublesome  formality,  rendered  her  the  virtual  pur- 
veyor for  the  whole  of  that  period,  during  which  she  was  avow- 
edly the  person  in  whose  keeping  rested  not  only  the  com- 
fort, but  the  existence  of  several  thousand  sick  and  wounded 
soldiers.  One  of  Mr.  Macdonuld's  impressive  sentences  serves 
to  paint  the  condition  of  the  spot  in  which  Miss  Nightin- 
gale at  that  time  drew  breath.  He  says:  "Wounds  almost 
refuse  to  heal  in  this  atmosphere ;  the  heavy  smell  of  pesti- 
lence can  be  perceived  outside  the  very  walls."  In  one  of 
the  last  letters  he  Avrote,  before  he  was  compelled,  by  fail- 
ing health,  to  return  to  England,  the  Times  commissioner 
bore  the  following  earnest  testimony  to  Miss  Nightingale's 
excellence.  It  aftbrds  a  beautiful  picture  of  her  in  the  midst 
of  her  self-imposed  task  of  mercy  and  charity.  These  are 
his  words:  "Wherever  there  is  disease  in  its  most  dangerous 
form  and  the  hand  of  the  spoiler  distressingly  nigh,  there  is 
that  incomparable  woman  sure  to  be  seen;  her  benignant 
presence  is  an  influence  for  good  comfort,  even  amid  the 
struggles  of  expiring  nature.  She  is  a  'ministering  angel,' 
without  any  exaggeration,  in  these  hospitals;  and  as  her 
slender  form  glides  quietly  along  each  corridor,  every  poor 
fellow's  face  softens  with  gratitude  at  the  sight  of  her.  When 
all  the  medical  officers  have  retired  for  the  night,  and  silence 
and  darkness  have  settled  down  upon  those  miles  of  prostrate 
sick,  she  may  be   observed  alone,  with  a  little  lamp  in  her 


118  CELEBEATED   WOMEN. 

hand,  making  her  solitary  rounds.  The  popular  instinct  Avas 
not  mistaken,  which,  when  she  set  out  from  England  on  her 
mission  of  mercy,  hailed  her  as  a  heroine ;  I  trust  that  she 
may  not  earn  her  title  to  a  higher  though  sadder  appellation. 
No  one  who  has  observed  her  fragile  figure  and  delicate 
health,  can  avoid  misgivings  lest  these  should  fail.  With  the 
heart  of  a  true  woman,  and  the  manners  of  a  lady,  accom- 
plished and  refined  beyond  most  of  her  sex,  she  combines  a 
surpi'ising  calmness  of  judgment  and  promptitude  and  decision 
of  character.  ...  I  confidently  assert  that,  but  for  Miss 
Nightingale,  the  people  of  England  would  scarcely,  with  all 
their  solicitude,  have  been  spared  the  additional  pang  of 
knowing,  which  they  must  have  done,  sooner  or  later,  that 
their  soldiers,  even  in  hospital,  had  found  scanty  refuge  and 
relief  from  the  unparalleled  miseries  with  Avhich  this  war  has 
hitherto  been  attended." 

The  difficulties  of  Miss  Nightingale's  task  were  not  only 
those  arising  out  of  its  own  appertaining  perils  and  sacrifices, 
and  those  which  resulted  from  official  mismanagement,  but 
she  encountered  much  opposition  springing  from  professional 
prejudices  and  jealousies.  On  their  first  arriving,  so  far  from 
being  welcomed,  the  advent  of  the  nurses  was  looked  upon 
as  an  evil,  resented  as  an  interference,  and  treated  with 
tacit,  if  not  open  discountenance.  At  the  best  they  were 
tolerated,  not  encouraged.  Cabals  were  got  up,  ill  feefing 
fostered,  party  differences  disseminated  and  fomented.  Pas- 
sive resistance  in  every  shape  was  resorted  to,  to  prevent  the 
installing  of  the  nurses  in  the  military  hospitals.  Against  all 
this  nothing  but  the  exquisite  tact,  firmness,  and  good  sense 
of  Miss  Nightingale  could  have  prevailed.  Having  proved 
herself  a  vigorous  reformer  of  hospital  misrule,  she  had  to 
encounter  the  tacit  opposition  of  neai'ly  all  the  principal  med- 
ical officers;  her  nurses  were  sparingly  resorted  to,  even  in 
the  barrack  hospital,  while  in  the  general  hospital,  the  head- 
quarters of  one  of  the  chief  medical  authoiities,  she  held  a 
very    insecure    footing.      But    the    return    of   this    person    to 


FLOEENCE  NIGHTINGALE.  119 

England,  the  continued  deficiency  of  the  purveying,  and  the 
increasing  emergencies  of  the  hospital  service,  enabled  Miss 
Nightingale  to  extend  the  sphere  of  her  usefulness;  and  thus, 
together  with  her  own  admirably  patient  perseverance,  she 
succeeded  in  having  her  nurses  employed  in  their  jjroper 
posts,  and  her  own  system  established  in  perfect  working 
order.  The  results  are  briefly  summed  up.  After  she  had 
introduced  her  system  there  and  brought  it  into  successful 
operation  under  her  powerful  will  and  genial  presence,  the 
mortality  diminished,  and  during  the  last  six  mouths  the 
mortahty  among  the  sick  was  not  much  more  than  among 
the  healthy  Guards  at  home,  and  during  the  last  five  months 
two-thu'ds  only  of  what  it  was  at  home.  In  one  sentence 
the  world  may  read  her  devotion  to  her  mission  of  army, 
medical,  and  sanitary  reform:  "I  was  never  out  of  the  hos- 
pitals," she  says,  "never  out  of  the  hospitals  night  or  day." 
The  Hon.  and  Rev.  Sydney  Godolphin  Osborne,  in  his 
deeply-interesting  work  upon  Scutari  and  its  hospitals,  gives 
a  description  of  Miss  Nightingale,  as  she  appeared  exercising 
her  vocation  among  the  sick  and  dying.  He  says:  "In  ap- 
pearance, she  is  just  what  you  would  expect  in  any  other 
well-bred  woman,  who  may  have  seen,  perhaps,  rather  more 
than  thii-ty  years  of  life;  her  manner  and  countenance  are 
prepossessing,  and  this  without  the  possession  of  positive 
beauty;  it  is  a  face  not  easily  forgotten,  pleasing  in  its  smUe, 
with  an  eye  betokening  great  self-possession,  and  giving,  when 
she  wishes,  a  quiet  look  of  firm  determination  to  every  fea- 
ture. Her  general  demeanor  is  quiet,  and  rather  reserved; 
still,  I  am  much  mistaken  if  she  is  not  gifted  with  a  very 
lively  sense  of  the  ridiculous.  In  conversation,  she  speaks 
on  matters  of  business  with  a  grave  earnestness  one  would 
not  expect  from  her  appearance.  She  has  evidently  a  mind 
disciplined  to  restrain,  under  the  principles  of  the  action  of 
the  moment,  every  feeling  which  would  interfere  with  it. 
She  has  trained  herself  to  command,  and  learned  the  value 
of  conciliation  toward   others,  and  constraint  over  herself     I 


120  CELEBEATED  WOMEN. 

can  conceive  her  to  be  a  strict  disciplinarian;  she  throws  her- 
self into  a  work,  as  its  head — as  such  she  knows  well  how 
much  success  must  depend  upon  the  literal  obedience  to  her 
every  order.  She  seems  to  understand  business  thoroughly. 
Her  nerve  is  wonderful;  I  have  been  with  her  at  very  severe 
operations;  she  was  more  than  equal  to  the  trial.  She  has 
an  utter  disregard  of  contagion.  I  have  known  her  spend 
hours  over  men  dying  of  cholera  or  fever.  The  more  awful 
to  every  sense  every  particular  case,  especially  if  it  was  that 
of  a  dying  man,  her  slight  form  would  be  seen  bending  over 
him,  administering  to  his  ease  in  every  way  in  her  power, 
and  seldom  quitting  his  side  till  death  released  him." 

Delightful  is  that  intimation  that  Miss  Nightingale  gives 
token  of  being  "gifted  with  a  lively  sense  of  the  ridiculous." 
Possessing  the  exquisite  perception  of  the  pathetic  in  exist- 
ence which  her  whole  career  proclaims  her  to  have,  it  would 
have  been  a  defect  in  her  nature,  nay,  a  lack  of  the  com- 
plete feeling  for  pathos  itself,  had  she  not  betrayed  a  ca- 
pacity for  receiving  humorous  impressions.  Humor  and  pathos 
are  so  nearly  allied,  in  their  source  within  the  human  heart, 
so  mingled  in  those  recesses  whence  spring  human  tears  at 
the  touch  of  sympathy,  that  scarcely  any  being  deeply  af- 
fected by  mournful  emotion,  can  remain  insensible  to  the  keen 
appeal  that  resides  in  a  ludicrous  idea.  Shakspeare,  who 
comprehended  to  perfection  every  impulse  of  humanity,  af- 
fords multitudinous  illustrations  of  this  close  consociation  of 
a  sense  of  pathos  and  a  sense  of  humor  in  the  finest  natures. 
That  particular  feature  chronicled  by  Mr.  Osborne  in  his  per- 
sonal description  of  Miss  Nightingale,  is  just  the  exquisite 
point,  to  our  imagination,  that  crowns  her  admirable  qualities. 
It  accords  with  an  intensely-beautiful  account  of  her  that  was 
related  by  Mr.  Sydney  Herbert  at  a  iniblic  meeting  convened 
in  Miss  Nightingale's  honor.  He  said  an  anecdote  had  been 
sent  to  him  by  a  correspondent  showing  her  great  power 
over  all  with  whom  she  came  in  contact.  He  read  the  passage 
from  the  letter,  which  was  this:    "I  have  just  heard  such  a 


JFLOEENCE  NIGHTINGALE.  121 

pretty  account  from  a  soldier,  describing  the  comfort  it  was, 
even  to  see  Florence  pass.  'She  would  speak  to  one  and  to 
another,  and  nod  and  smile  to  as  many  more;  we  lay  there 
by  hundreds;  but  we  could  kiss  her  shadow  as  it  fell,  and 
lay  our  heads  on  the  pillow  again  content.'  What  poetry 
there  is  in  these  men!  I  think  I  told  you  of  another,  who 
said:  'Before  she  came  there  was  such  cussin'  and  swearin'; 
and  after  that  it  was  as  holy  as  a  church.'  That  consoling 
word  or  two,  that  gentle  'nod  and  smile'  in  passing,  were 
precisely  the  tokens  of  sympathy  that  would  come  with  such 
home-felt  charm  to  those  manly  hearts  from  a  face  possessing 
the  emotional  expression  which  we  can  conceive  it  naturally 
to  have,  just  the  woman  with  just  the  countenance  to  exer- 
cise an  almost  magical  moral  influence  over  men's  minds.  We 
are  told,  eye-witnesses  have  averred,  that  it  was  singular  to 
remark  how,  when  men,  frenzied,  perhaps,  by  their  wounds 
and  disease,  had  worked  themselves  into  a  passionate  refusal 
to  submit  to  necessary  operations,  a  few  calm  sentences  of 
hers  seemed  at  once  to  aUay  the  storm;  and  the  men  would 
submit  willingly  to  the  painful  ordeal  they  had  to  undergo." 
Noble  being!  Exactly  that  blended  firmness  and  gentleness 
which  makes  a  woman's  nature  so  all  potent  in  its  beneficial 
ascendency  over  manhood.  Rough,  brave  fellows,  that  would 
have  resisted  like  iron  any  amount  of  men's  pei'suasion,  would 
melt  at  once  into  submission  at  a  "few  calm  sentences"  from 
those  lips  of  hers.  We  can  fancy  the  mouth,  capable  of 
smiles,  or  quivering  with  deepest  feeling,  compressed  into  reso- 
lute steadfastness,  as  it  persuaded  the  men  into  reasonable 
acquiescence  with  what  was  for  their  good,  while  betraying 
the  latent  sympathy  with  their  every  pang. 

Among  all  her  anxieties,  responsibilities,  and  .  more  vital 
affairs,  also,  she  found  opportunity  to  attend  to  intellectual 
needs;  for  on  one  occasion,  we  find  from  a  letter  written  in 
the  camp  before  Sevastopol  during  the  Spring  of  1856,  that 
"through  the  exertions  of  Miss  Nightingale  a  considerable 
quantity   of   school    material,    such    as   maps    and    slates,   was 


122  CELEBEATED  WOMEN. 

supplied  to  the  schools."  From  her  own  stores  she  supplied 
books  and  games  to  cheer  the  dull  hours  of  convalescence; 
and  was  foremost  in  every  plan  for  affording  the  men  harm- 
less recreation.  On  her  responsibility  she  advanced  from  the 
"Times  Fund"  the  necessary  sum  for  completing  the  erection 
of  the  Inkermann  Cafe;  she  aided  the  active  senior  chaplain 
in  establishing  a  library  and  school-room,  and  warmly  sup- 
ported him  in  getting  up  evening  lectures  for  the  men.  She 
took  an  interest  in  their  private  affairs,  and  forwarded  their 
little  savings  to  their  families  in  England  at  a  time  when 
there  was  no  provision  for  sending  home  small  sums;  she 
wrote  letters  for  the  sick,  took  charge  of  bequests  for  the 
dying,  and  punctually  forwarded  these  legacies  of  affection  to 
relatives;  she  studied  the  comfort  of  those  who  recovered,  and 
had  a  tent  made  to  protect  such  of  them  as  were  permitted 
take  the  air  from  the  searching  rays  of  an  Eastern  sun — 
moreover,  enduring  the  mortification  of  a  refusal  of  the  hos- 
pital authorities  to  have  this  tent  put  up.  Her  activity  of 
intelligence  was  almost  miraculous;  one  of  its  pei'sonal  ob- 
servers. Dr.  Pincuffs,  declares:  "I  believe  that  there  never 
was  a  severe  case  of  any  kind  that  escaped  her  notice;  and 
sometimes  it  was  wonderful  to  see  her  at  the  bedside  of  a 
patient  who  had  been  admitted  perhaps  but  an  hour  before, 
and  of  whose  arrival  one  would  hardly  have  supposed  it  pos- 
sible she  could  already  be  cognizant." 

Miss  Nightingale  would  not  hear  of  going  back  to  En- 
gland till  the  war  was  over;  although  her  health  and  strength 
were  so  far  impaired  that  when  a  yacht  was  placed  at  her 
disposal  by  Lord  Ward  to  admit  of  her  taking  temporary 
change  of  air  in  sea  excursions  to  recruit  her  for  further 
work,  she  had  to  be  carried  down  to  the  vessel  carefully  and 
reverently  in  the  arms  of  the  men,  amidst  their  blessings  and 
prayers  for  her  speedy  recovery.  Iler  noble  devotion  had 
touched  the  hearts  of  her  countrymen  long  before  her  work 
was  completed,  and  the  nation's  gratitude  could  not  be  re- 
strained from  its  eager  desire  to  bestow  some  pulilic  token  of 


FLOEENCE  NIGHTINGALE.  123 

acknowledgment  toward  a  woman,  who,  they  felt,  had  earned 
so  imperative  a  title  to  theii-  affectionate  thanks.  A  testimo- 
nial of  some  sort  was  agreed  ujion  as  the  only  means  of  ex- 
hibiting their  unanimous  feeling,  and  of  permitting  every  one 
to  contribute  their  share  in  the  offering.  But  of  what  was  it 
to  consist?  Sums  of  money  to  a  lady  in  affluent  circum- 
stances, would  be  futile;  ornaments  to  one  whose  chosen 
sphere  Avas  by  the  bedside  of  the  sick,  the  poor,  and  the  dy- 
ing, would  be  idle.  Any  gift  to  herself,  who  had  given  her 
most  precious  possessions,  her  time,  her  attentions,  her  sym- 
pathy to  others,  was  not  to  be  thought  of.  In  the  first  place, 
it  was  like  an  attempt  to  reward  that  which  was  beyond  re- 
ward; to  pay  for  that  which  was  a  free  donation,  and,  more- 
over. Miss  Nightingale  distinctly  declined  receiving  any  thing 
for  herself.  The  only  thiag  that  remained,  then,  was  to  raise 
a  fund  for  benevolent  purposes,  and  to  place  it  at  her  dis- 
posal, that  she  might  apjn-ojmate  it  according  as  her  own 
j^hilanthropic  heart  and  admirable  practical  judgment  should 
think  best.  Public  meetings  were  called,  presided  over  by  a 
prince  of  the  blood  royal,  and  one  who  had  been  a  personal 
witness  of  Miss  Nightingale's  grand  work  in  the  East;  and 
attended  by  peers,  members  of  Parliament,  and  some  of  the 
highest  men  in  professional  repute.  They  debated  the  ques- 
tion of  the  proposed  "Nightingale  Fund"  in  the  noblest  spirit 
of  consideration — consideration  for  the  delicate  feelings  of  her 
who  was  the  object  of  this  testimonial  of  a  nation's  grati- 
tude, and  consideration  for  those  who  were  desirous  of  mak- 
ing this  public  proffer  of  their  homage.  It  was  decided  that 
a  "fund  to  enable  her  to  establish  an  institution  for  the 
training,  sustenance,  and  protection  of  nurses  and  hospital  at- 
tendants" would  be  the  best  form  for  this  National  testimonial 
to  take.  This  determmation  met  her  cordial  and  heart-felt 
approval. 

And   now  the    time    approaches  when   her   noble  duty  in 
the  East  came  to  a  close,  by  the  declaration  of  peace.     The 

date  of  her  intended  return  to  England  was  kept  a  profound 

17 


124  CELEBRATED   WOMEN. 

secret,  out  of  dread  of  that  publicity  wliich  she  has  ever 
carefully  shunned.  Not  only  were  the  day  and  the  spot  of 
her  probable  landing  preserved  unknown,  lest  the  popular 
welcome  that  would  have  greeted  her  arrival  should  take 
place ;  but  desirous  of  maintaining  the  strictest  incognito,  she 
refused  the  offer  of  a  passage  in  a  British  man-of-war,  and 
embarked  on  board  a  French  vessel,  passing  through  France 
by  night,  and  traveling  through  her  own  country  unrecog- 
nized, till  she  arrived  at  her  own  home  in  Derbyshire,  on 
Friday,  August  15,  1856.  There  was  one  gracious  welcome 
that  Miss  Nightingale  could  not  but  accept,  and  that  was 
from  the  royal  lady  who  was  the  sovereign  head  of  the 
army,  which  had  so  long  been  the  especial  object  of  Miss 
Nightingale's  devoted  care.  A  visit  of  some  days  at  Bal- 
moral, where  the  Queen  was  then  staying,  in  highland  seclu- 
sion and  enjoyment,  was  spent  by  Miss  Nightingale  in  the 
sunshine  of  kindly  favor;  being  treated,  dming  her  sojourn 
there,  with  the  most  marked  distinction  by  her  Majesty  and 
every  member  of  the  royal  family. 

Since  her  retm-n  home.  Miss  Nightingale's  name  has  met 
the  public  ear  only  in  the  quiet  deeds  of  practical  goodness 
consistent  with  her  whole  career,  or  in  the  record  of  patient 
suffering,  her  constitution  never  having  recovered  its  tone  of 
health.  The  recent  accounts  of  her  failing  strength  render  it 
quite  probable  that,  before  the  public  shall  read  these  pages, 
Mercy's  Missionary  will  have  become  Heaven's  Angel. 

In  Florence  Nightingale  aU  the  world  glorifies  a  woman 
who  embodies  the  principle  of  devotion,  in  the  widest  sense 
of  the  word;  true  devoutness  to  God — worshiping  him  by 
best  service,  in  benefiting  her  fellow-mortals,  and  fervent  con- 
secration of  herself  to  a  high  and  immortal  cause. 


